Tradition links us to our roots. It is a way of knowing the past and understanding where we come from and where we are going. Since he travelled to his native Galicia in the early 2000s to do a report on the old trades of traditional agriculture, Álvaro M. Leiro fell in love with a technique that is relatively unknown to most people: spiral basketry.
From the moment he discovered Galician artisanal practices, he thought that the only way to ensure that the basket-making trade was not lost was to put it into practice with his own hands. And with that in mind, he opened his workshop in Moscoso (Pontevedra), where he learned to weave different materials to create baskets.
Now, its adaptation can be found in Loewe's catalogues.
Although traditional corozas are not only surprising here, they have also travelled around the world and have caused a sensation in Shanghai, where the 'Crafted World' exhibition displayed a sample of this Galician work.
This meteoric career, as he describes it, led him to win the 2023 National Crafts Award, for "his intention to preserve and revitalize ancient forms of craftsmanship, transmitting their beauty and value through contemporary pieces."
Photo. CLASSPAPER
For Álvaro M. Leiro, tradition is our DNA, and that is why he is in charge of keeping it alive through his work. As a basket maker and researcher, Álvaro rescues and revitalizes traditional craftsmanship through the creation of basketry pieces with reeds, straw and natural fibers.From the moment he discovered Galician artisanal practices, he thought that the only way to ensure that the basket-making trade was not lost was to put it into practice with his own hands. And with that in mind, he opened his workshop in Moscoso (Pontevedra), where he learned to weave different materials to create baskets.
Photo: Alvaro M. Leiro
Her work surprises everyone who has the opportunity to see it. Or just ask the Loewe scout who visited a Galician craft fair in A Golada in 2018 and was amazed by the basket made from reeds that was on display that day. It caught his attention so much that the Spanish luxury brand proposed to Leiro to transfer her design to leather. Although at first it seemed quite complicated, a week later he already had the bag in Paris.
Photo: Alvaro M. Leiro
Among his works, the corozas are also surprising, a raincoat made entirely from plant material. Although it seems like a very old piece, Leiro surprises when he says that there are still people in Galicia who use this design, since 'this happened in the 60s and 70s'.
Photo: Alvaro M. Leiro
This meteoric career, as he describes it, led him to win the 2023 National Crafts Award, for "his intention to preserve and revitalize ancient forms of craftsmanship, transmitting their beauty and value through contemporary pieces."
